Relating Roles

Couple's On-stage Romance Carries Over Into Real Life

January 11, 1989|By MARC R. TURPIN Staff Writer

When the Tidewater Dinner Theatre in Norfolk raises its curtain tonight for the opening of the contemporary comedy "Right Bed, Wrong Husband," Di Sorenson and Scott Rollins won't have any problem relating in their roles as an engaged couple.

The two young Peninsula residents actually plan to marry in September.

"Our relationship makes it easier for us to relate (on stage)," says Sorenson, who met Rollins 2 1/2 years ago and started dating last summer. "I love working with him. We get to practice the kissing scenes a lot," says the Hampton resident.

A resident of Poquoson, 24-year-old Rollins proposed to her during a INXS concert in Hampton last September.

In a supporting role, Sorenson plays Ruth, a high-class debutante who refuses to marry her fiance Ted until her wealthy father returns from overseas and gives his consent.

Rollins says his lead character is "happy-go-lucky." "Ted's (late) mother (was) well-off," he says. "He's never had to work." Rollins describes himself as a natural comic and a "cut-up kinda guy. Directors think I do better in comedy," says Rollins, who is in his 47th play and has appeared in both lead and supporting roles in musicals and dramas in addition to comedies.

The couple appear on stage together in the beginning, middle and end of the play, which will run at the dinner theatre through March 19.

Sorenson, 23, says her real-life personality is far different from that of her character's. "I'm fun-loving and I'm definitely not a debutante," she says. "The director (G.F. Rowe) had to tell me during rehearsal to watch my walk because I sometimes go back to my natural (mannerisms)," says Sorenson, who is now acting in her 10th play and her third with her fiance. In their second play, as fate would have it, Sorenson and Rollins appeared as a married couple.

Sorenson adds that the relationship between her character and Rollins character is unlike the one the two actually share.

"Ruth seems to be in charge of the relationship," Sorenson says. "She's very demanding when it comes to deciding what they're going to do and when they're going to do it. In our (real-life) relationship, I'm more like, `Well, what should we do?,"' she says. "It's a more equal decision."

Sorenson is a 1984 graduate of Denbigh Baptist Christian School in Newport News and has been working full-time at The Limited in Coliseum Mall for three years. She had planned for a career in retail management, but after appearing in a few plays beyond high school she feels acting is the field for her.

Rollins graduated from Poquoson High in 1982 where he says he was an "average student who participated in extracurricular activities like smashing mailboxes." An avid movie-holic, Rollins works at the Coliseum Mall Cinema. He gets a lot of inspiration from watching his favorites - Nicholas Cage, Gene Hackman and Jack Nicholson.

"I want to act as a career. But I have a realistic outlook: I want to be a working actor and make a living at it," he says. "Just as long as I'm performing....If I'm poor, so be it," he adds.

"I support him," Sorenson says. "A lot of people get a job and aren't happy with their profession," she says.

The aspiring actors plan to move to New York shortly after they marry, hoping to make it big on Broadway.

Having the opportunity to act together excites the couple even more about their chosen professions. They say it's easier for them as a couple to perfect their lines because they see each other on and offstage a lot.

Director Rowe knows firsthand what the young couple is experiencing. "My wife, Marty McGaw, has directed me and I've directed her," he says. "We took the show home with us sometimes, which wasn't necessary." Rowe adds that offstage relationships between actors in the same play can at times create problems for all. "If you're having difficulty offstage, it can transmit on stage sometimes."